Current Conditions and Issues in Care of Elderly Residents with Mental Illness in Nursing Homes Revealed through The Narratives of Helping Professionals

Abstract

Purpose: To describe the narratives of helping professionals in nursing homes who provide care to elderly residents with mental illness and examine issues faced by staff relating to the provision of care.

Methods: Qualitative research was conducted based on semi-structured interviews with 26 care staff members from six nursing homes. Participants responded freely to questions that centered around three topics: (1) their perceptions regarding residents with mental illness, (2) their impressions about care experiences, and (3) their feelings and thoughts about providing care. Thematic analysis was conducted on the data which had been recorded using an IC recorder.

Results: The analysis of the interviews revealed that the participants considered elderly residents with mental illness in the same regard as all nursing home residents. They described experiences of providing care, focusing on “building good relations with the residents.” However, they reported feeling upset when residents sometimes exhibited aggressive behaviors, experiencing “hurt in relations with the residents.” Even though the caregivers had, at times, been emotionally wounded by residents with mental illness, they had also been able to recover from such painful experiences.

Conclusion: The hurt feelings experienced by staff members in their relationships with residents were determined to be mostly related to the staff members’ self-esteem. The results identified the most important issues for staff are difficulties in caring for residents exhibiting aggressive behaviors and indicated the necessity of providing caregivers support to help them process hurt feelings when residents lash out at‍ ‍them.